Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT)

A GBIF tool to enable the publishing of biodiversity datasets

v2.1

About the IPT

See also

The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) is a free open source software tool written in Java that is used to publish and share biodiversity datasets through the GBIF network. Designed for interoperability, it enables the publishing of content in databases, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, or text files using open standards namely the Darwin Core and the Ecological Metadata Language. You can also use a 'one-click' service to convert your metadata into a draft data paper manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

The core development of the IPT happens at the GBIF Secretariat, but the coding, documentation, and internationalization are a community effort and everyone is welcome to join in. New versions incorporate the feedback from the people who actually use the IPT. In this way, users can help get the features they want by becoming involved. The IPT really is a community-driven tool.

You can see the work that has gone into each iterative version since v2.0.3 (released in November 2011) under the Releases tab. You can check out the Stats page to find out how many institutions around the world are using the IPT today.

For a more in-depth description of the IPT, including why it was developed, you can read this article published in PLOS ONE on August 6, 2014.

How to contribute?

Featured users

Translation

Has the IPT user interface or documentation been translated into your native language yet? If not, we welcome new translations into any language. Instructions can be found here.

Code

Is the IPT missing a key feature, or is the GBIF Secretariat too slow getting around to implementing an existing feature request or bug fix? Feel free to contribute a code patch yourself. To start, check out the latest version of the source code here.

Documentation

Is there a mistake in the IPT documentation? Perhaps some topic in the IPT wiki is missing? If so, please contact the GBIF Helpdesk
with your ideas, and we will grant you author privileges to the IPT wiki.

"Darwin Core Archives are required for data harvest to our new portal. We see IPT as a great tool to facilitate the creation of these files and to provide hosting of them for our participating institutions." - Laura Russell, VertNet

"Thanks to the IPT we now have a complete data mobilization workflow, from in-house data management systems to GBIF. The software tool has been instrumental in the growth of the Canadensys network." - Peter Desmet, INBO & Canadensys

"The IPT has facilitated primary data publication for us. At SiB Colombia we use it as a central part of our data publication model" - Danny Vélez, SiB Colombia